A pioneering clean energy business has launched a community share offer to raise £1 million for renewable energy projects.
The initiative aims to attract everyday investors interested in supporting green energy generation and local communities.
The Bristol Energy Cooperative will use the cash – to be raised through the Triodos Bank crowdfunding platform – to develop new clean energy projects and add an additional one megawatt of solar energy to its portfolio.
The projects are expected to power nearly 300 homes over 25 years, save 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, and direct an estimated £130,000 into community projects.
Target interest rate of six per cent
Investors can contribute a minimum of £100 and a maximum of £100,000. The target interest rate is six per cent per year, dependent on the cooperative’s performance.
Founded in 2011, Bristol Energy Cooperative has already invested £13.4 million in 20 solar and battery projects, achieving a total peak capacity of 12 megawatts.
Additionally, it has directed £400,000 into community projects – recent projects include solar installations on the Bristol Beacon music venue and The Bottle Yard Studios.
CEO of Bristol Energy Cooperative, Helen Martin, said: “We’ve come a long way since launching Bristol Energy Cooperative, and in that time the need for a cleaner, fairer energy system has only increased. That’s why we’ve got big plans to scale up our work to help meet the many challenges our society faces head on, and we need investors help to achieve these ambitions.
Supporting clean energy
“Our investors will be actively helping to tackle the climate emergency, increase energy independence and strengthen local communities.”
Whitni Thomas, head of corporate finance at Triodos Bank UK, added: “We’ve been a proud supporter of community energy for many years, and are pleased to be working with Bristol Energy Cooperative as such an innovative organisation in this area.
“We find that the investors using our crowdfunding platform really ‘get’ the purpose and drive behind community-owned renewables, so we expect that they’ll be plenty of interest in support for this share offer.”
In 2018, Triodos – a Good With Money ‘Good Egg’ firm – was the first bank to launch a crowdfunding platform in the UK. The bank has a history of working with community-owned renewable energy projects and has raised over £28 million for a range of community energy organisations and projects across the country.
Risk warning: The value of an investment can fall as well as rise, and you may not get back the amount originally invested.
